thelesterlee
Welcome to Ceiling/Floor where I dissect trades, signings, firings and hirings in order to determine the best case and worst case scenarios.
BREAKING: The Washington Wizards are trading three-time All-Star Bradley Beal to the Phoenix Suns for Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, a handful of second-round picks, and multiple pick swaps, league sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 18, 2023
The Phoenix Suns have traded Chris Paul, Landry Shamet and a bunch of junk 2nd round picks for Bradley Beal.
Ceiling
Bradley Beal is a 3-time All-Star and a former All-NBA guard who turns 30 next week. He’s bringing 23.2 points a night to form a Big 3 with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. 3 guys who can easily get buckets so I don’t suspect the Suns to have much trouble getting to 100 points.
This Phoenix team is coming off a 6-game series with the Denver Nuggets where Chris Paul only played a game and a half. It was pretty much Durant and Booker vs. the inevitable NBA champions and they still almost won that series. Imagine what would’ve happened if Bradley Beal was dropped into the middle of those series.
As of today, Phoenix is the most talented team in the NBA. Everyone constantly talked about the Heat making the Finals despite their lack of talent but we witnessed a once-in-a-generation miracle run from Miami. I still think having amazing basketball players on your roster is better than, ya know, not.
Also—and allow me to quickly dunk on Chris Paul some more—Brad Beal is exponentially better at basketball right now than elderly CP3. There’s a reason why Chris Paul is on a different team every year. It’s over for that man.
Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal and DeAndre Ayton vs. Everyone.
Floor
Let’s just talk about Bradley Beal here. We can get into the fact that they only have 5 guys on their roster and they are going to have a difficult time building a solid bench with all of their salary cap restrictions. If you’re an NBA veteran, would you rather play with Nikola Jokic or Kevin Durant who ruined the vibes of the entire Brooklyn Nets organization?
But I don’t care about any of that.
Bradley Beal is frequently injured. You know who else is frequently injured? Kevin Durant. Personally, if I were building a NBA team, I would get a bunch of guys who like, play basketball. It’s odd teams haven’t figured this out.
But what’s even scarier than his brittle bones is how super overrated he actually is as a scorer. Beal shot 30% from 3 last season. 34% the season before that. For a guy who gets labeled as this great shooter. He jumped up his percentage to 36% this season. Dope. That makes him literally the 97th-best 3-point shooter in the NBA.
Bradley Beal is the 4th highest-paid player in the entire league. He was the 97th-best 3-point shooter. I don’t even feel like writing about this, man. ESPN spent the morning talking about this ‘blockbuster’ trade when in reality, the Suns basically traded for D.C. Tobias Harris. Who cares?
I can’t believe I’m wasting words for Bradley fucking Beal. I’m in the middle of an NFL head coaches ranking that’ll absolutely get more views than this article but I was told this was such a massive move until you actually look at his numbers and realize Beal is the most expensive role player in NBA history.
HOW DID BRADLEY BEAL GET A NO-TRADE CLAUSE?!
No seriously, think about it. Brad Beal has been irrelevant since John Wall’s legs exploded. Kevin Durant injured his ankle in the layup line before a game and for a guy who some people still believe is the best player in the league—he hasn’t been to the Conference Finals since he was on the Warriors 5 seasons ago.
This isn’t the dream team we all think it is. It’s Devin Booker, DeAndre Ayton, a Kevin Durant whose body is betraying him and a Bradley Beal that scammed the Wizards into giving him enough money to purchase the Washington Post.
I think I have a new enemy. Brad Beal better average 50 a night and the Suns need to go 82-0 or I’m going to drag them.
Do you guys think Bradley Beal is going to lead the Suns to a championship? Leave a comment below. Respond on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee. Let’s figure out if Beal is actually good at basketball.
